Today Of All Days
by firefly827347
Summary: A fluffy piece I wrote after the end of series 2. 10Rose


_Okay, so I wrote this ages ago when the second series finished in Britain, mostly because the final episode had me crying for hours after I watched it, and I decided to write my own little happy ending. Most of the stuff in this is probably wrong and contradicts the cannon, but I don't care. I just wanted to post it after all this time, because I haven't posted anything for ages. Please let me know if anything is seriously wrong with it, and I love reviews!_

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Rose Tyler sighed and drummed her fingers on her desk. It had been a quiet morning at Torchwood. Little or no 'alien' activity for a few weeks. She didn't even need to be here, she was only really a research assistant. But she knew when she woke up this morning that the office in which she worked would be empty, and today of all days, she needed to be alone.

She moved the mouse of her computer to deactivate her screensaver, and checked her e-mails. There wasn't much; some junk from a wacko in 'America' (despite being almost exactly the same, she knew that this planet wasn't her Earth) about a supposed UFO sighting. It was the third this week. It was probably just kids mucking around with a Frisbee or something. She was a little disappointed to see that there was nothing from Mickey. He of all people should know what today meant for her. For a moment, she resented him for not caring, but then she shook herself, for Mickey was one of the most caring people she'd ever met.

She exhaled and stood up, walking to the window of the office. There was no one else in this room, probably even on this floor. They were all out on some trip gathering intel from some source or other in some godforsaken part of England. Rose declined the invitation to go. Especially today of all days.

She stared out over the view of London. Everything she looked at reminded her of what she was trying so hard to forget: the London Eye. The river Thames. Big Ben. All held painful memories of something gone forever.

Willing herself not to cry, she turned away from the window and returned to her work station. She shut down her computer and, picking up her mobile phone – yet another memory – she walked out of the room.

She'd tried many times to call him. He'd put the number in her phone – the 'special' phone that he'd tweaked for her. All she got was "number not in use". She cursed every time she hung up, because she knew fine well that the number was in use. It was just being used in another dimension.

She walked through the corridors of the building – corridors that she'd walked down so many times before. She only wished she was walking down them in his reality, rather than this one. She passed a few people, security guards and such like, all of which greeted her – she was well known in the organisation. She had more knowledge than most of the people in Torchwood put together. All thanks to him. She nodded back, not wanting to speak in case she choked up. She swiped her security card in the slot by the door, and inhaled as a cool breeze drifted in from outside as the glass slid to the side. She nodded at the receptionist and walked out into the city. For a moment, she just stood on the pavement and watched the world go by. People walking along the embankment of the Thames, boats travelling along the river, a jet plane flying to the airport. None of it felt right without him.

Blinking away her tears, she walked. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she just kept moving. Everything seemed blurry – as if time had sped up around her and everything was moving ten times as fast. Noise all merged into silence, people and cars and buses became mere shapes. Unable to prevent them any longer, the tears started streaming down her face. She didn't care. It had happened many times before because of him, and it would happen again.

"Can I get another one in there please?" She said to the barman, brandishing her now-empty glass.

"Rough day, love?" He asked, pouring another vodka and coke into her glass and smiling the smile that all barmen smile when they pretend to be interested in their punters' troubles.

"Rough life." She muttered, taking a long mouthful. The barman chuckled and moved on to the next customer.

Rose took another few sips, finishing the drink, and didn't notice the man sit down next to her.

"Jacks said I might find you in 'ere."

She glanced up into the sympathetic face of Pete Tyler, her dad.

"Looks like she were right, don't it?" She replied wearily. She was a bit worse for wear.

"Come on, love. Let me take you home." He reached out to touch her arm. She didn't move his hand away.

"I want to be on my own."

"Yeah, well I want doesn't get." He replied, smiling. He'd grown close to her, despite her true father being dead in a different reality.

"Tell me about it…" She said under her breath. She sighed and stood up, not protesting when her dad slipped his arm around her shoulders for comfort and support. She'd waited twenty years to be this close to her father.

"Tell you what, how 'bout we go for a walk? Jacks is lookin' after the little 'un." He was referring to Rose's little brother, Sam. "Hey, we could go for some chips." Pete looked in alarm at his daughter as she suddenly let out a sob. "Rose, love? What is it?"

"Chips…" She said sadly. Pete sighed.

"Pizza?" She shook her head. "Alright, you choose."

"Chips. Chips sound good." She smiled unconvincingly.

"Chips it is. My shout." Her dad grinned back, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.

"I should think so too. He never had any money. Always made me pay…" She trailed off as more memories came flooding back. "Cheap date." She added, sniffing. Her dad chuckled.

"You know love, you don't have to talk about him if you don't want. I know how much he meant to you. But I'm still not sure what's so special about today."

Rose was silent for a moment.

"It's been a year since he… Today's the anniversary of when… When he left." She looked at her watch. "In about half an hour to be exact." She looked off into the distance as she remembered. "A year ago today, I said goodbye to the Doctor."

"You were gone a while." Jackie Tyler said to her husband as he walked in the door. "Did you find her?"

Pete nodded his head backwards at Rose, who appeared in the doorway. Jackie tutted and ushered her daughter inside.

"I've just got Sam off to sleep. He's been ever so unhappy today."

"Must be catching." Rose said absent-mindedly as she took off her coat. Her mum sighed and put her hands on her hips.  
"Have you been drinking?"

"Not now, Jackie." Pete muttered, putting his hand on his wife's arm. She glared at him for a few moments – enough time for Rose to escape to her room.

"Why?" She hissed when Rose was out of earshot.

"She's upset. It's been a year since she said goodbye to him."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "That man. He's not even a man. He's not even here and he _still_ manages to upset her."

"Yeah, well just leave it, okay? Leave her be." Jackie nodded reluctantly.

Rose collapsed on her bed. She could hear everything they were saying, but she didn't care. She didn't care about anything right now. All she wanted was to see him. She didn't even have a photo or anything. She could still hear his voice in her head though. The unfinished sentence. She so wished she'd heard him say it. She knew what he was going to say, but for a bloke like the Doctor, saying it was a Big Thing, and he never got the chance to tell her before he was cut off from her forever. Never to see each other again. She sometimes thought she could hear the familiar, beloved engines of the TARDIS. Sometimes it was a sound similar, sometimes there was nothing at all and she was just imagining it. But each time made her want to scream out his name into the sky in the hopes that somewhere, he would hear her. And yet there had been nothing. Not even a sighting of someone who looked like him. She was desperately trying to cling to the memory of his face, his smile, his laugh, his voice. She was afraid that one day, she would wake up and he would be gone completely, memories and all. In case of that happening, she'd written everything down. Everything she could remember. His face (both of them), what his voice was like, things he'd said to her, the things they'd done together, places they'd been to, people they'd met. Everything she could remember, she wrote down. Sometimes, she'd remember something new and add it to her diary. Sometimes she'd look back at what she'd written and realise in horror that she couldn't remember that event as clearly.

Mickey said she was upsetting herself over nothing. She'd shouted at him that he wasn't "nothing", that he was everything. Mickey told her that there was no point in reliving the past, because it was too painful. She'd never see him again. She knew that. She just didn't want to give up hope.

"DAMN!" The Doctor yelled, slamming his fist down hard on the TARDIS consoles. The pain in his hand didn't even register. He didn't feel pain anymore. Not even that jolt of electricity he got the other day when something in the TARIS short-circuited. He didn't really feel anything anymore. It was all just numb. He used to feel a rush of adrenaline when he went somewhere new, took off in the TARDIS and landed any old place. The adrenaline was gone now. Ever since she'd left. There was no warm rush of her enthusiasm when they went somewhere different, no rich sound of her laughter when he explained the weird customs or laws or people. No educated questions that made him feel on top of the world when he explained in a way she understood. There was no spark in his conversations with people now. Every person he spoke to reminded him of her, as no one talked the way she did. No one had the same bite, the same bright, shining personality. It had hurt so much when she had gone, he could no longer feel pain. He'd got used to it, he was coping, like you have to if you lose a limb. That's what it felt like. He felt as if he'd lost a part of him. Part of his soul. And he would never get it back, no matter how hard he tried, how much he screamed, how much he smashed things and how much he slammed his fists on the TARDIS in anguish. Nothing could ever bring her back.

He sighed and slid down onto the floor, muttering an apology to the TARDIS as he went. She would be sad to see him take it out on his ship – she loved the ship. It wasn't the ship's fault either. Not really. He just blamed it for not being able to travel between realities. But he knew it was impossible.

A tear started to slip down his face. He rarely cried, but he'd cried a lot over her. Especially when they'd finally said goodbye. She'd told him the one thing he'd been desperate to hear since the day they first met. She loved him. And he never got the chance to say it back. Maybe it was better that way. He was the Doctor. The last remaining Time Lord. He wasn't supposed to feel like this. And besides, maybe she wouldn't cling to some tiny hope of him coming back to her because she hadn't heard him say it.

"_Who am I kidding?_" He said to himself. "_This is Rose Tyler. Of course she's gonna be waiting for you. She's nearly died for you loads of times you stupid plonker. Remember the Game Station?_"

"Oh don't remind me." He snapped to his thoughts. He hated it when his thoughts did that.

Groaning, he climbed to his feet and made his way towards the door. He wasn't sure where he was, he'd just punched in any old coordinates and hoped for the best. He closed his eyes, waiting to hear her footsteps behind him. Waiting to hear her protests because he was going first. Her laugh as he told her the name of the planet. But there was nothing, just silence. God, how he hated the silence.

He pushed open the door. Silence is _not_ what he got.

"Who the hell are you, and what have you done with the Doctor?"

He still had his eyes closed, but he knew that voice. It was impossible though. The owner of the voice was dead. He opened his eyes, just to be sure.

"My God." He breathed. "JACK!"

There, in front of the TARDIS, were six armed guards, in grey camouflage uniforms, with flak vests and machine guns. They all had _Torchwood_ written on patches on their right arms. Right in front of the guards, in a white t-shirt, black shiny trousers, no flak vest and holding a rather large alien blaster gun that only he could have got for this time period, was Captain Jack Harkness.

"Hands up! Do I know you?" He drawled in his American accent, still brandishing the weapon in the Doctor's face.

"Jack, it's me. I'm the Doctor." He replied, raising his hands.

The handsome captain raised an eyebrow, glanced at the TARDIS and looked back at the Doctor.

"Pull the other one, pal."

"London, England, UK, Earth, 1941. That's where we first met you. During the Blitz of World War II. Remember? The people with the gas masks for faces?"

Jack eyed him suspiciously. "How did you know that?"

"Time Lord. Same bloke, different face. Nifty little thing called 'regeneration'."

"And why did you regenerate?" Jack asked sarcastically, not lowering his gun.

"We were in the Game Station being attacked by Daleks. I sent Rose home. She didn't like that, pulled open the TARDIS and absorbed the Time Vortex. Came back to save me, almost killed her. I had to take the Vortex out of her, but my body couldn't handle it. Had to regenerate to save me."

Jack frowned and a look of realisation crossed briefly across his face. He lowered his gun.  
"Speaking of which, how on Earth are you alive?" The Doctor added. "You were dead."

"I don't know. One minute I had Daleks blasting my ass off, the next minute I was alive and everyone was gone. I ran to the TARDIS but you'd already started to leave."

"Oh." The Doctor said sheepishly. "Sorry."

Jack grinned and motioned for the guards to stand down. "Still got that screwdriver?"

The Doctor smiled and lowered his arms, reaching into his pocket for the object. He tossed it to the captain. Jack nodded, chuckled and threw it back. "Sonic screwdriver. Who does that?" He laughed. The Doctor shrugged. "Hey, is Rose in there? I've missed her." The look on the Doctor's face silenced him. "Oh God. She's not… she didn't…"

"No." The Doctor said sharply. "She's… with her family."

"Doctor, I saw that girl. No way would she leave you and go home."  
"Not willingly. She's in an alternate reality."

"Ouch." Jack said. "I hate those. I always look older." They started walking down the corridor in which the Doctor had landed.

The Doctor frowned at him. "How could you know? Travel between different dimensions is impossible."

"Improbable. Not impossible. Besides, how did Rose do it?"

"There was a crack between the two dimensions. A window that briefly allowed travel. Rose's Earth almost experienced an apocalypse, so I sent her to the other one. The Daleks and the Cybermen decided to have a bit of a hissy fit."

"Cybermen? Ouch. Those guys are nasty."

"Not as nasty as the Daleks…" The Doctor shuddered. "The Daleks were winning."

They came to a set of double doors. Jack swiped a security card in the slot and they slid open with a hiss.

"Wait a minute, we're in Canary Wharf again!" The Doctor exclaimed in surprise.

"Observant. I like it." Jack joked, nodding at his colleagues as they passed.

"But this is where the rift was!" The Doctor said, walking towards the wall that had almost sucked Rose into the void of hell. He placed his hand on the wall, remembering himself screaming for her life. Thank God for Pete Tyler.

"We know. Torchwood was shut down for a few months but alien activity increased a little so they reopened it. I'm the managing director." Jack smiled and looked proudly around the room. The levers for the 'ghost shift' were gone. In fact, it looked more 'homey' now. There were pictures on the walls of different extra-terrestrial species. The Doctor noted, with surprise, that there were images of Slitheen-type beings from Raxacoricofallapatorius too. More reminders of Rose. She was thrilled when he taught her to say that.

"So doc, what are you actually doing here anyway?" Jack asked, shaking the Doctor back to reality.

"Uh…good question. Not exactly sure. Just sort of… ended up here. When is 'here' anyway?"

"It's a year and a half since the 'big hole in the universe' thing."

"Right. And… how did you get here? Last time I checked, you were a few thousand years in the future."

"Oh, now _that_ is a long story. And a funny one too. C'mon, lets go for a drink, I'll tell you all about it." The Doctor grinned and followed Jack, glad to at last have a familiar face to talk to. Of all the people in the universe, Jack would understand.

Rose woke up to the sound of a pounding drum. Someone was drilling holes into her skull, and some idiot somewhere was smashing a lot of glass. Well, that's what it felt like. She groaned, sat up and glanced at her clock. It was still early. Too early to get up. But she was awake now, so she didn't really have a choice. She had a shower to wash away her hangover. It still didn't wash away the memories.

She dressed and went to go for some breakfast. As she passed her brother's room, she heard him stirring. She peeked around the door and saw him staring up at her with big blue eyes.

"Hello, mate." She whispered. "It's too early for you to be up." She moved over to his cot and stroked his face. He was wide awake. "Oh, come on then. Lets get you some nosh." She picked him up and held him close. She'd never really been around young children before but she found everything came naturally with her brother.

"Down we go then." She whispered as she went down stairs. She could have a perfectly good conversation with him even though he couldn't answer, without feeling stupid. It was so weird.

She warmed his bottle and was halfway through feeding him when her mum came downstairs in a rush.

"Oh!" She said. "There he is."

"Sorry. He was awake. Thought I'd save you the bother." Rose replied.

"Thanks, love." She said, sitting next to her children. "You're a natural."

"Dunno why. He just seems to like me."

"Everybody likes you, Rose." Her mum smiled.

"Mickey's new girlfriend doesn't. Did you see the look she gave me when he introduced us at dad's party?"

"Yeah." Her mum giggled. "She looked about ready to throttle you when he said who you were."

Rose smiled as her brother hiccupped. "Want a cuddle?" She asked her mum, who nodded. She handed over the baby, stood up and went into the kitchen.

"Got any headache pills? I got one heck of a hangover."

Her mum opened her mouth to say something along the lines of "I told you so", but remembered how upset her daughter had been the previous night. She'd heard Rose cry herself to sleep. "Top drawer on the left." She called softly, not wanting to startle Sam.

"Thanks." Rose replied, taking two out of the packet and swallowing them with water.

"Listen love, why don't you take the day off today? I'm sure they won't mind, you've been working your socks off lately."

"Lemme guess, you want to go shopping and there's no one to look after Sam."

Jackie made a point to look offended at the remark, despite realising she'd been rumbled. "I just thought it would take your mind off things." She hadn't meant to say that. Rose pretended she hadn't heard it.

"Oh, alright. I'll phone in sick. Tell you what, why don't we all have a day out? Maybe dad can get time off too."

"Maybe he already did." Pete said from the doorway. "Today ladies…" he spotted Sam. "…and gentlemen, I am officially a free man."

"Cool. What'll we do then?" Rose asked.

"Whatever you want, darling. You've been working so hard lately, you choose." Her mum spoke up.

Rose knew what they were up to. She might as well milk it.

"How about a picnic?"

Pete grinned. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too." Jackie said. "Picnic it is."

"…And that is how I ended up here." Jack finished. The Doctor had to admit, it was an interesting story.

"Very clever."

"Why, thank you. Your turn."

"My turn, what?"

"To tell me everything that's been going on since we parted ways."

"Oh, well. You know. This and that. Stopped an experimental program that used humans as test subjects for disease prevention… met Queen Victoria and stopped her being turned into a werewolf… saved a load of school kids when their teachers turned into gargoyles… met Madame Du Pompadour and saved her from some pretty beautiful clockwork robots who were intent on killing her… stopped the Cybermen taking over an alternate Earth… stopped people's faces being sucked into their tellies by something called The Wire… saved some people on a mining ship orbiting a black hole from this huge devil-like monster… saved this bloke from an Absorbaloff… stopped a girl possessed by alien spores from kidnapping people, and of course, saved the world from the Daleks and the Cybermen. Oh, and the small factor of losing Rose forever." The Doctor took a swig of his drink at this point. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was working.

"You're really cut up about that, aren't you?" Jack said sympathetically.

"Never thought I would be. It's been a year since I saw her for the last time. A year since…" He hiccupped. He never hiccupped. Whatever he was drinking was really effective.

"Since what?" Jack asked, taking a sip from his own glass. Jack obviously had more stamina, he wasn't nearly as drunk as the Doctor and he'd had nearly twice as much.

"Since she told me she loved me."

Jack stared.

"She _what_?"

"Told me she loved me." The Doctor repeated. Jack was stunned.

"And you said what back?"

"Nothing. I was about to tell her that I loved her too when the signal cut out. I never got to tell her how I feel."

"Damn." Jack said.

"Yup. Damn." The Doctor replied with a giggle. He was getting more drunk by the minute. "She'll be living happily ever after now with Mick-Mick-Mickey." The Doctor said cheerfully.

"Well, we can't have that now, can we?" Jack said. "Come on." He heaved the Doctor up by the arm and dragged him towards the door. "I got something to show you."

What Jack Harkness had shown the Doctor sobered them both up very quickly.

"But that's impossible." The Doctor spluttered.

"Im_probable_." Jack said. "Not impossible. I already told you that."

"But how can this even exist?" He gestured wildly at the object in front of them.

"Well, I might not be the best person in the world to explain it. All I heard when the guys were explaining it were 'wormholes', 'hyperspace', 'superluminal' and 'multiverse'."

"Right..." The Doctor replied. "I'll get an explanation later, shall I?" Jack flashed him a grin.

"So, whaddya think? Think we can make it work?" He was getting excited now. If it worked, it would be a huge advance in technology. The Doctor paused and rubbed the back of his neck, lost in thought for a moment.

"You know what, I think we just might…"

"Oi! Stop hogging all the sarnies!" Rose laughed at her dad, who had four on his paper plate.

"Well you got all the sausage rolls!" He protested playfully, making Jackie smile. She'd always wanted her daughter to have her dad around. Rose responded by nudging her father in the ribs, who retaliated by tickling his daughter. She squealed and poked him back.

"Alright you lot, truce." She called. Pete grinned and handed Rose a sandwich, while she traded a few sausage rolls. Sam was sitting on his mum's lap, gurgling happily.

"Now, I know that this is probably the last thing you wanna talk about, love." Pete said to his daughter, producing a bottle of champagne and some glasses from somewhere. "But there's someone missing from here, who's responsible for everyone being here today. Without everything he did, I wouldn't have found my Jacks, we wouldn't have little Sam, and you'd probably be out getting yourself in trouble on some weird planet on the other side of the universe." He popped open the bottle and started to pour. "So I would like to make a toast…" he handed his wife and daughter a glass each. "…to the Doctor."

Rose blinked back a tear, smiled at her family and raised her glass. "To the Doctor." She echoed.

"I would like to make a toast…" Jack said to his colleagues, raising a glass of champagne. "…to all of you here, for your hard work, your input, and your good nature whenever I boss you around." He winked at some of his female co-workers, who giggled and nudged each other. Jack was a popular boss. His tight trousers were part of his charm. "But, I would also like to toast a very good friend of mine, a special guy, and without his help…" He glanced at the Doctor. "…this project would not have been completed so promptly. Everybody, please raise your glasses to the Doctor."

"To the Doctor." Came the collective enthusiastic mumble of the crowd. Everyone took a sip at the same time and then started clapping. How they did it while holding a glass is unknown, but they managed.

Jack stepped down from the stairs to admire everybody's handy work.

"We need a name." He said to the Doctor.

"Well, its true name would be the Multidimensional and Cosmos-Spatial Interstellar Navigation Module." The Doctor replied, his eyes gleaming. Jack looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Yeah, try telling that to this lot after a few glasses of this stuff." He brandished his empty champagne flute at him and waved his hands at the crowd. "Anyway, that would be what… MACSINM. Right?" He said the letters as if they were a word.

"Right."

"Okay. Then lets call it Max!" The Doctor rolled his eyes and laughed.

"'Max' it is."

"Jack!" One of his colleagues shouted. "What are we going to test it with?"

"That is a very good question." Jack replied with a boyish grin. He glanced at the pinstriped-man next to him. "Whaddya say, Doctor? Fancy seeing her again?"

The Doctor's hearts both skipped a beat as he thought about it. Memories of her flashed through his mind, her smile, her laugh, her touch, her voice, her kiss…

"Like you even had to ask." The Doctor replied darkly, downing his glass.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a volunteer!" Jack yelled to the crowd. Everybody cheered and clapped. "On one condition though, Doctor." He added. "I have to go along as well."

"Quite right too, Jack. Wouldn't be the same without you!" Came the reply, followed by a grin.

"Right. Well, tomorrow you and the scientist guys can fix this thing to the TARDIS and then we'll see where it goes from there. Remember, there's a chance it might only be one-way." He said the last bit quietly. No need to cause mass-panic.

"That's a risk I'm prepared to take. She's probably moved on anyway. Mickey's there. She might not even want to see me again. But I have to see her."

"I know what you mean. I've missed that gal! We'll do our best to set it up a.s.a.p. for you." Jack looked around the room and held up his glass. "Hey! We need some more champagne over here!"

"That was nice, thanks." Rose said to her parents as they arrived home. "I had a great day. It was good to be a family again."

"Yeah, we should do that more often." Pete replied, giving his daughter a hug.

"Uh oh, this little one needs changing." Jackie spoke up, nodding at the baby in her arms.

Pete and Rose backed away simultaneously.

"Oh, wonderful. Honestly, you two. He's only little."

"Oh, give him 'ere." Pete said, holding out his arms and taking his son upstairs.

"See?" Jackie said, nudging her daughter. "Life's not all that bad with us."

Rose sighed. "I know. I just…"

"Miss him. I know. I know what it's like to lose the man you love." She replied.

"I haven't lost him, he's just… what makes you think I love him?" Rose asked. She'd never told her mum the last words spoken between her and the Doctor.

"I can see it in your eyes, sweetheart. Every time you talk about him or hear his name. I was like that when I lost your dad from the other place."

"But I've not lost him." She said sadly. "I know he's out there, I just can't get to him. And that makes it worse."

"I know, darlin'. But maybe you should start to think of him as lost. It might help ease the hurt a little bit."

A tear slipped down Rose's cheek.

"Oh, I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to make you upset."

"You didn't. It's alright. He has that effect on me." She giggled a bit, wiping her tears away.

"I miss him too, you know." Jackie said wistfully.

"Oh yeah, why's that then?" Rose said, confused. Her mum always moaned when he took her away.

"He was a great kisser." She replied darkly.

"Oi!" Rose and her dad, who had appeared on the stairs holding Sam, yelled simultaneously.

"All set, then?" Jack asked the Doctor as he made the final modifications to the TARDIS.

"Looks like it." The Doctor replied. "Have you bade farewell to your horde of screaming fans yet?" He added.

"Just about to." Jack said, winking. He exited the TARDIS. The Doctor climbed out of the hole in the floor he was sitting in and sighed. He never thought this day would come. He glanced over at the corner, where Rose's jacket hung. He'd never moved it. It had been there since she'd left. He smiled, and followed Jack. There was a crowd around the TARDIS, which was parked in a more open area of Torchwood operations so that work could be done to it. Everybody cheered as he stepped out. Jack emerged from behind a few people and handed the Doctor a rucksack.

"Just some stuff. Hope you don't mind."

The Doctor shook his head, smiled, and deposited the bag inside the door of the ship.

"As long as there's no women in there…" He added, grinning. Jack laughed and shook his head.

"I wouldn't be able to choose which one to bring." He put his arms around a few of his female colleagues. "There's just so many beautiful ladies to choose from." The Doctor shook his head in amusement.

"Right!" Jack shouted, clapping his hands for attention. "Now, I know you're all gonna miss me…" he winked at the crowd, who chuckled. "…but I know you're all gonna cope fine without me. I am leaving Georgie in charge, she is my new managing director until I return. A very good choice, I might add, well done in voting for her as the new leader." Jack had decided to hold a vote to make it fair. He waved at Georgie, who was standing near the back of the crowd.

"Anyway. I never was any good at goodbyes, so I love you all, I shall miss you all, thanks for your hard work over the past few days and indeed, the past year or so. Farewell, dear friends." The Doctor grinned as Jack exaggerated a wave and a bow. "I hope to see you all soon!" With that, he retreated into the TARDIS. Everyone looked expectantly at the Doctor.

"Uh…right. Well, I'll do my best to get him back to you soon. Thanks for all your help." He smiled, unsure what else to say. "Uh… bye!" He waved and followed Jack back inside to the sound of applause, and started flicking switches on the control panel of the ship.

"Ready?" He asked the captain.

"When you are." Jack replied, moving to the other side of the console. He knew some of the controls, and was happy to help out if he could. The Doctor entered some coordinates, and pressed some buttons on Max.

There was a rumble as the engines fired up with their familiar sound, and a new blue light flashed as Max kicked in. The ship started vibrating heavily, almost knocking Jack off his feet. The Doctor was used to a bit of turbulence, and ignored his ship's urge to throw him to the floor.

"Hang on!" He yelled over the noise, as the TARDIS was flung into the Vortex. It spun a few times, before shaking violently. This time, Jack _was_ thrown to the floor. He didn't hang on as tightly as he should have. Max started making a loud humming noise, if possible even louder than the sound of the engines. The ship continued to shake for what seemed like hours, until finally, it landed with an Earth-shattering thud.

Jack let out the breath he'd been holding. "Wow."

"Yup." Came the reply.

"Did we make it? Are we there?"

"I suppose there's only one way to find out." He heaved himself up from the console he'd been leaning against, and made his way over to the door. Taking a deep breath, he pulled the door open and stepped outside, with Jack close behind him.

"Well, it _looks_ like London." Jack said. "And it isn't my London."

"How do you know?" The Doctor asked. Nothing looked different.

"None of those were in my London."

The Doctor turned around to where Jack was pointing.

"Oh. I hadn't noticed those."

Behind the TARDIS, on the side of a building, was a large poster of a man. A man who was dead in The Doctor's reality. Pete Tyler.

"Pete Tyler?" Jack said, reading the name on the bottom of the sheet of paper. "As in, Rose's dad, Pete Tyler?"

"That's the one." He replied, looking up at the face of the man who had saved Rose from being sucked into the void.

"Neat. It worked."

"Yeah." The Doctor said absent-mindedly.

"So, where to now?"

The Doctor exhaled and thought for a moment. He remembered a party. Rose in a waitresses outfit. A few hundred Cybermen.

"The Tyler household."

"Bye mum! Bye dad! Bye Sam!" Rose yelled to her family as she put on her coat. Although it was summer, it was raining quite heavily.

"Bye sweetheart, have a good day." Jackie replied, emerging from a room holding Sam.

"Yeah, try not to get abducted by aliens while you're working." Her dad joked. He didn't have to leave for another hour.

"I'll do my best." She smiled and kissed her dad, then her mum, then her brother on the cheek. "See you later." She called, pulling the front door shut behind her. She made her way down the driveway and fished in her pocket for some change. She could drive, and had a car, but driving through the centre of London at this time of the morning would be a nightmare. She made her way to the tube station, waved to a few people she knew, and got on the train to the centre of London. Time to go back to reality again.

"Wow. Nice house." Jack said in awe as he and the Doctor rounded a corner and came to the Tyler house.

"Makes a change from her mum's flat." The Doctor replied, fishing in his pocket for his sonic screwdriver to open the gate. It hummed for a few seconds, and the gate swung open.

"You know, I can see why one of those might be useful." Jack said, smiling as the Doctor slipped the device back in his pocket. The Doctor grinned absent-mindedly. He wasn't really listening. He was too busy hoping that he'd got the correct reality, and not some weird one where the Tyler family didn't even exist. He reached the front door and stared at it. Jack waited patiently for a moment. The Doctor still stared at the door, so Jack got bored and knocked for him. The Doctor nodded in thanks. He felt numb. There was a rustle of activity behind the door, before it opened, and a flustered blonde woman holding a baby was standing in the space. She stared at the men on her doorstep with an open mouth.

"Hi." They said simultaneously.

"Who is it, love?" Pete said, emerging from a room. He too stared at the men with an open mouth. Well, he stared at the Doctor. He'd never met Jack.

"How? But, how?" Jackie stammered.

"Good question." Jack said cheerfully. "Took us a while, but we built a thing I called Max and it allowed us to travel between dimensions. Quite clever, really."

The Doctor stood staring at Jackie, then at Pete, and finally at the baby. He'd got the right dimension. Everything was going to be okay.

"You'd better come in." Jackie said, moving aside.

"Thanks." The Doctor said quietly, still looking at the child.

"That's Sam." Pete spoke up, noticing the Doctor's expression. The Doctor looked up and smiled.

"Rose said you were…I mean, going to have a baby. The last time we spoke."

Jackie smiled, and looked at the captain.

"Hi, Jack. Where've you been then?"

Jack chuckled. "Oh, well, I died, but everything's okay because…" The Doctor shot him a Look. He wasn't sure if Jackie knew about Rose absorbing the Time Vortex. "…well, I'm fine as you can see. Long story. Really quite boring, actually." He looked up at Pete. "Hi, I don't believe we've met. Jack Harkness" He extended a hand, which Pete shook.

"Pete Tyler, Rose's dad. You know Rose, do you?"

"Oh, yeah, we met about a year ago."  
"Where is she?" The Doctor asked quietly. "Is she here? Is she okay?"

Pete grinned. The Doctor looked really worried. It was reassuring to see him care so much.

"You missed her by about an hour. She's gone to work. Torchwood."

"Oh. When will she be back?"

"Not until about five." Jackie said, ushering them into the lounge. "Anyone fancy a cuppa?"

"Not for me thanks, love. I've gotta shoot off now." Pete said, kissing his wife and then his son. "It was nice to meet you, Jack. Good to see you again, Doctor." The Doctor and Jack looked up and smiled. "Will you be staying?"

"For a while, hopefully." The Doctor said. "We've got the TARDIS down the road."

Pete nodded. "Well, if you plan to take my daughter away on another adventure, can you let me say goodbye to her first?" He was smiling. The Doctor grinned.

"I'll do my best to make her." Pete waved and went out the front door.

"So, how about that cuppa then?" Jackie said, smiling at the men. "Doctor, two sugars?"

"Yes please." He replied.

"Oh, Jack. I don't know how you like yours."

"I'll come and give you a hand."

"Oh, thanks. Doctor, can you take Sam? Cheers." She ignored the Doctor's protests, knowing the best thing to do was let him get on with it, and led Jack to the kitchen. The Doctor sighed and looked down at the smiling baby in his arms.

"Hello, mate." Sam gurgled. "So. You're Rose's brother. Well, I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you. You can't understand a word I'm saying, but I don't care, because you're probably a lot more intelligent than some of the aliens I've spoken to. Especially if you're anything like your big sister. You'll do okay if you end up like her."

Jackie, who had appeared at the door and overheard, smiled. "Doctor, would you like some choccy biccies?"

The Doctor looked up. "No thanks, Jackie. I was going to just have my tea and then go and see Rose. If that's alright."

"Absolutely fine. She's missed you loads. Especially the other day. She'd kill me for telling you, but she was crying a lot the other day."

"Oh yeah. It's been a year, hasn't it?" Jackie nodded. "She'll be glad to see you."

"Okay boys and girls." Jack said, appearing behind Jackie carrying a tray. "Tea's up."

The Doctor walked along the river bank towards Canary Wharf. Jack had stayed at the house, to "give them some time alone." Jackie hadn't minded either. As long as the Doctor "put the smile back on her face". It was raining, and most people had umbrellas, but not him. He liked to feel the rain on his face. Some planets didn't have rain, and if they did, it was usually the acidic kind that could burn your face off in twenty seconds. The rain wasn't cold either, because it was summer. There was a glow beginning to shine through the clouds from the sun, making the raindrops sparkle a little. He looked at the scenery around him. All of it held memories. The London Eye the first time he'd met Rose. Big Ben, and when he'd almost killed Rose with a missile in Downing Street. The River Thames, where the 'alien pig' had 'crashed'. And up there, right in front of him, was Canary Wharf. This time, there were no flying Daleks, no Cybermen shooting anything that moved. No big glow coming from the window as the aliens were sucked into the void. Just rain, bustling people and the odd bus. He stood outside. He wouldn't be able to get in. he didn't have a security card. Though, being the Doctor, they might just let him waltz in without one. But then, he wouldn't know what to say. A year without her. Jackie said she hadn't changed, that she'd missed him. But he couldn't know that for sure. So he stood in the rain, and he watched, and he waited.

"Miss Tyler?" Seth, one of the other research assistants, said to Rose.

"Yup?" She asked cheerfully.

"Um… we picked up something a few hours ago. We're not sure what it. Do you think you could take a look?"

"Okay, no problem." She said, flashing the young man a smile. He hadn't been there long, but Rose could tell he was doing alright. "What is it you wanted me to look at?"

Seth led her over to Andrea's workstation. Andrea nodded at Seth and tapped a few keys on her computer.

"We picked this up not far from this building. About three hours ago. Wondered what you'd make of it." She pressed a button on the screen that started playing some CCTV footage. At first, it just looked like a normal street. Rose recognised it, it was only a few streets away from the Torchwood building. But then, something started to happen. A glowing light. It was flashing. Then, a shape started to take form under it. A rectangular shape, a box. The colour on the camera wasn't very good, but Rose didn't need it to be. She knew what colour that box was. It was blue. Police-box blue. She started shaking. It couldn't be. It was impossible. He'd told her it was impossible. But apparently not, for the next thing that appeared on the screen was a man. Not just any man. He was wearing a pinstriped suit, a long overcoat and tennis shoes. The Doctor. Her Doctor. He glanced around for a moment, before another shape emerged from her beloved TARDIS. White t-shirt, leather jacket, dark trousers. Were they _shiny_? He had dark, spiky hair, and a boyish grin. Captain Jack Harkness. The image of Jack spoke, and glanced around. The Doctor said something in reply, and looked at Jack, who was pointing. He was pointing at a poster of her dad's latest venture. A look of realisation crossed the Doctor's face. He knew. He knew he was in the right place. He knew she was here.

Rose gasped for air and stepped back from the computer as the men disappeared from view.

"Miss Tyler?" Seth spoke, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

She shook herself and took a few deep breaths. "I'm fine."

Everyone at Torchwood knew about the Doctor and the TARDIS. Everyone at Torchwood knew that Rose had once travelled with this man, and that he was where she got her knowledge from. Andrea and Seth had mischievously shown her the footage, knowing full well what it meant. Rose had finally found her Doctor.

"There's something else." Andrea said, and flicked the CCTV footage to the camera that was positioned outside the building. At first, all Rose could see was a crowd of people passing the front door. But then Andrea zoomed in on something, and Rose nearly burst into tears. There, right in front of the building, hands in his pockets, soaking wet, just staring thoughtfully at the building, was the Doctor.

"W-when was this taken?" Rose stammered.

"Oh, sorry. You don't understand." Andrea said, grinning at Seth. "This is the live feed from the CCTV on this building. This is happening right now."

Rose let out a sob and clasped her hand to her mouth.

"He's outside, Rose." Seth said quietly. Rose looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked at Andrea, who was smiling.

"Thank you." She whispered. Seth and Andrea nodded. Rose stumbled backwards, turned, and ran out of the door and down the corridor as fast as she could. She ran to the stairs and sprinted down them three at a time. Outside, The Doctor looked up at the top of the building, and a small smile crept across his lips. It was time.

Rose ran past the reception desk and fumbled for her security card. Hands shaking, she slid it in the slot and pushed her way through the door. She was outside now, getting wet. But she didn't care. She put her card back in her pocket and looked around. She glanced up at the camera above her head and noted where it was pointing to. She followed its line of focus. There was no one there. Just a few people holding cups of coffee under an umbrella. She almost screamed in frustration, and ran in the opposite direction, looking at everyone's faces. Face after face after face. Nothing. She stopped walking and started crying. He wasn't here. He'd gone. She turned around, tears streaming down her face, and her breath caught in her throat. As if in slow motion, a crowd of people parted in the distance, and there he was. Just like he had been on the camera. Soaking wet, hands in pockets, and looking right at her. By now, Andrea, Seth and some more of her colleagues had appeared in the doorway of the building. They knew what this day meant for her. As the rain washed away her tears, Rose started running. The Doctor took his hands out of his pockets and started walking towards her. They both sped up and ran for what seemed like an eternity, until finally they met and she jumped into his arms. He held her tight, never wanting to let her go. They embraced each other for a few minutes, before she slid down until her feet touched the ground. She started up into his eyes. They were as sharp as ever.

"Hi." She whispered.

"Hi." He answered. He brushed a strand of wet hair off her face. "There's something I didn't get a chance to tell you." He said.

"What?" She replied.

"Rose Tyler…" She held her breath.

"…you stole my psychic paper you little madam!"

She burst into tears of joy, the happiest she'd ever been in her life. He stroked her face and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes once more.

"There was something else too. What was it?" He pretended to think for a moment. "Oh, yes. Rose Tyler."

She started up at him with big brown eyes.

"I love you."

He bent his head down and raised her chin a little more until their lips met. It was the third time he'd ever kissed her, but it was the first time that he had felt so in love with her. She reached up and put a hand on the back of his neck, pulling him closer. Her other hand slid up his arm and she ran her fingers through his soaking wet hair. He put his other hand on her waist and pulled her as close as possible. They kissed for another eternity, neither of them caring about how drenched they were getting, or the sighs that her colleagues were making. Right then, there was just them. No one else in the world. The way it should be.

Reluctantly, they broke apart, and stared into each other's eyes.

"Did you miss me?" He asked, smiling.

She pretended to ponder it for a moment. "Nah. Never noticed you'd gone." She grinned.

"Well, I can't say I missed the racket you make." He replied. She nudged him in the ribs. "But I missed you like crazy." He added, and kissed her again. When they broke apart for a second time, she looked up at him questioningly.

"Where's Jack?"

"Jack? Oh! Jack. How did you know about him?"

She nodded her head at the CCTV camera and laughed as she spotted her friends staring at them. "There's cameras in the street you landed in. Can't keep anything quiet around here!"

The Doctor smiled, also noticing the group of people grinning at them from inside the building.

"He's at your house with your mum and Sam, probably being made to watch Jeremy Kyle or something." Rose grinned. "I take it he had something to do with you being here?"

"He's the managing director of Torchwood in the other reality. He had a bit to do with it, yes."

"Good for him. You've seen my mum then? And Sam?"

"Yup, and your dad. We went there first. Sam's the only sane one."

She giggled, and then frowned. "They never told me you were back. Never even phoned."

"I asked them not to. Wanted to surprise you." Rose smiled.

"Well, it worked. I'm surprised."

"Oh, good. Well, I did what I came here to do. I'm off now. See you!" He winked and pretended to walk away.

"Oi! No you don't. Not without me, you don't."

"You're working. It's alright, I'll be at yours. I'm not leaving you this time."

"No, you're right, you're not. Come on." She dragged him by the arm towards Torchwood.

"Oh, not a meet and greet with the workmates…" He groaned.

She swiped her card in the door. "Hi." She said to the people in the foyer of the building. "This is the Doctor. You all know who he is. Make sure he doesn't go anywhere for a minute, would you?" She grinned at her colleagues, winked at the Doctor and marched off down the corridor.

"Uh…hi." The Doctor said uneasily, waving at her friends.

"About time you came back." Seth said. The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"She's missed you a lot. Never shut up about you for the first few months." Andrea added. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"It's true. She told us loads of what you taught her. Especially about Raxacoricofallapatorius." Seth said, proud to be showing off. The Doctor smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Is it true you fought the Daleks in the Time War?" Someone else asked. The Doctor nodded. "Wow!"

"Did you fight the Cybermen too?" Another person piped up. The Doctor nodded again. At that moment, Rose came marching back down the corridor.

"Come on! Let's go. I've got the rest of the week off." She grinned. The Doctor returned it. He held out an arm, which she took. "Bye!" She called to her friends. They all cheered as she walked out of the door and into the now-sunny London with the Doctor. Her Doctor.


End file.
